My Daughter who is now 2, 1/2 years old says to me, “Mummy, can I open the fridge?” I say, no. She asks several more times before I say “do not say that again.”

She places a hand on the fridge and says “Abre?”

Fair enough right? Not only has Dora assisted my spanish learning daughter to outsmart me but she has also succeeded in preparing my girl for one of the biggest changes in her life. A Brother.

A well timed discovery in the Nick Jnr series was when Dora’s archeologist mother was expecting TWINS! Now to some this may sound silly but to anyone who has a Dora loving youngster you know that if Dora says, sings or rhymes it, it’s gospel. So when Dora raced home through the Spooky forest & the nut farm to get to her house we knew we were on to a good thing.

Some how this 20 minute story about Dora, her slightly disturbing group of talking exotic animals and her mothers speedy & effortless twin childbirth explained the whole situation in just the right way to not only make it ok, but to be the most exciting thing ever. It prepared her very nicely.

The result: a little girl who understands her brother is a baby and needs help whilst somehow not resenting the time he takes away from her with us alone.

If you do have a little one with any interest in Dora or Diego and need some help preparing them for the big change of a younger sibling, invest in the Dora enterprise and use it to your advantage. You may wake up every morning singing “I’m gonna be a big sister…” but when you come out from the kitchen to make sure your older isn’t feeding the baby snails and find her on her knees holding his hand and smiling instead, it’ll all be worth it.

I’ve said it before but after some time away to accomplish a few different things we’re back in business for round 2 of You Know You’re A Parent When trials, tribulations, fears, reviews and all the gross stuff that comes along with it.

It’s the Step 2 Doorway Playhouse and it gets 4 big thumbs up from us. This unit is around $220 AUD in stores though if you look carefuly you can get them cheaper. Ours was $149 AUD from http://www.playdex.com.au and arrive the next business day. This one is worth every cent.

It takes only minutes to set up and only a few more if like me you have dismantled one side of a playpen and set the door up at the front with your Dora Kitchen inside like a little house.

This one is a big winner. It can be used in a doorway or stand alone, whichever works for you and the little mail slot is great for posting things inside.

Now, normally I am a big fan of the old Fisher Price brand, however I seem to have found the exception to the rule. It’s the Fisher Price Croc Tunnel which usually retails for around $50 here in Australia though you can find it on sale from around $20. I bought it for $19 and yet still it was not worth the money.

The Croc Tunnel looks lovely and stable in images though when you get it home and set up the tunnel has not hard brackets on the floor section so the material gets caught up under little knees and more often than not ends up flipping over.

It is designed for babies for are strong enough to lift their legs up when they crawl and yet small enough to not want to go sideways, touch anything around them, be interested in the walls at all, move in any direction fast or weight more than air.

Basically if your baby doesn’t end up on their head or arse in the first ten minutes, your doing well. For us and many others from what I have seen, The Croc Tunnel often ends up in tears… and on ebay.

These are fun and easy for your toddler to hold. Crayola have come up with a new “Beginnings” line aimed directly at toddlers and young kids. The Line includes a washable set, a bath set, markers, stamps and a few others.

Here is Oz they are around $14 or so and just fantastic. Buy your baby a hard cover note book and let them draw (or scribble) a few times a week, then you can watch them get better and better throughout the book.

Crayon Buddies are cool, fun and easy for little hands to hold, and surprisingly very difficult for big hands to hold. That should keep big borther, sister or.. Dad from taking over your toddlers artistic designs.

I know what you’re thinking, this may be one of the ugliest designs as far as “cute kids” things go that ever existed. I know.. the one I have is Yelow with dogs and not much better. However, this my fellow mess clean-er-upper-ers, is genius.

It’s called a thermal cup from Villeroy & Boch and this design is the “Meow Wowwow” though it does come in a few other designs at around $25 – $35.

Here’s the thing though… it doesn’t spill. Fill it with water or juice for the kids or use as a saftly cup when you’re on your sixth or seventh glass of wine for you, either way, tip it, shake it, rattle it, open it or close it.. you won’t get more than a drop out of it unless you mean to.

They also make a few similarly designed cups for kids which we will be test driving shortly but this one is a winner and perfect for the car or dinner or any of those times when you need an extra hand to prevent a spontanious flood of upturned drink. The Meow Wowwow is for you.. and lets face it, addivtive to say.

It’s going to be a bumpy ride but you will get there eventually. The key to being a parent? realising that you’re making it work even when you will never feel like you are.

For all of those who have been around since the beginning, here is the 12 – 18 Months top ten, for any newcomers, this is what you have to look forward to.

1: You’ve felt a pea being pushed into your ear for the first time since you were a toddler.

2: You will spend more time talking on your child’s plastic flower phone to made up people than you will on the real phone. The kicker is that it doesn’t take very long before you start having quite long and meaningful discussions with yourself on it.

3: The phrase “aww that’s so cute” has been replaced with “Hey! NO! Stop Doing that!”

4: If you thought the never ending drone of the sing song Fisher Price voices were irritating wait unil your toddler decides to use (any) toys as banging objects and furniture weaponry. It’s just more fun if your shape sorter is singing “.. shapes are in my cookie jar..” whilst being dropped from a great height or pressed and dragged across perfect floorboards or leather furniture.

5: If you have pets you will find yourself up against of whole miriad of disgusting phrases that if people who don’t have a toddler could hear, would think you were just really funny. “Don’t lick the dogs mouth”, “Don’t touch the cat’s bum”,

6: You’ve uttered “The baby did it!” and meant it. It’s around this time when your criminal career may begin as Baby decides that in all manner of split second opportunities, they will steal something off a shelf of a supermarket or store and hide it in whatever fabric around them will cover it up. If you have found a half nibbles grape or crayon under your baby’s dress when you’re packing the grocories in the car then you’re not alone.

7: What is yours… is theirs. And this means no longer yours until they decide to discard it. At this point (if not destroyed) it is yours until they see / hear / sense that you have it again, at which time, once more it will no longer be yours.

8: A little voice calls out a tongue tied half whisper of “mum mum?” and you fall in love all over again each and every time.

9: You spend your afternoons together paying very close attention to pointing out everyones nose. There is Straberry Shortcake’s nose, there is Dora’s nose..

10: It’s not all so scary though.. You Know You’re A Parent When your toddler walks up to you, smiles, puts there little arms round your neck and gives you a kiss. ..

… Of coarse it’s a little more awkward, I didn’t mention the stumbling on the way over, almost hair pulling at the back of your neck and missing your mouth whilst sticking out their tongue at the last minute for the kiss. But you get the idea..